Hunt: To pursue game for food or sport. To search for prey. To pursue as to capture. The act or sport of hunting. A hunting expedition. The hunting season for a particular animal. A diligent search.
Huntsman: A man who hunts, especially one who manages a pack of hounds in the field.
Hunter Deities: From the work by Lewis Spence, The Myths of North American Indians, who writes of the deity known as the thunder-god, whose harnessed power of lightning and thunder is tied to their weapon, the spear or the bow;
"Thunder-Gods: North America is rich in thunder-gods. Of these, a typical example is Haokah, the god of the Sioux. The countenance of this divinity, was divided into halves, one of which expressed grief and the other cheerfulness-that is, on occasion, he could either weep with the rain or smile with the sun. Heat affected him as cold, and cold was to him as heat. He beat the tattoo of the thunder on his great drum, using the wind as a drumstick. In some phases, he is reminiscent of Jupiter, for he hurls the lightning to earth in the shape of thunderbolts. He wears a pair of horns, perhaps to typify his connection with the lightning, or else with the chase, for many American thunder-gods are mighty hunters. This double conception arises from their possession of the lightning spear, or arrow, which also gives them in some cases the character of a war god. Strangely enough, such gods of the chase often resembled in appearance the animals they hunted. For example, Tsul 'Kalu (Slanting Eyes), a hunter-god, of the Cherokee Indians, seems to resemble a deer. He is of giant proportions, and swells in a great mountain of the Blue Ridge Range, in North-western Virginia. He appears to have possessed all the game in the district as his private property. A Cherokee thunder god is Asgaya Gigagei (Red Man). The facts that he is described as being of a red colour, thus typifying the lightning, and that the Cherokees were originally a mountain people, leave little room for doubt that he is a thunder god. for it is around the mountain peaks that the heavy, thunderclouds gather, and the red lightning flashing from their depths looks like the moving limbs of the half-hidden deity."
Alexander Porteous writes of the Huntsman;
"Nor is the Wild Huntsman absent from North America. Among the Iroquois, he is known as Heno the Thunder. He rides on the clouds, and splits the forest trees with his thunderbolts. When he gathers the clouds together he pours out the warm rain, and so becomes the God of Agriculture, and the Indians call him Grandfather."
Many people are familiar with the Greek figure Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt. A descendant of the Titans, daughter to Leto, she was the sister of the god Phoebus Apollo, also known as Diana, or Cynthia from her place of birth, Mount Cynthus in Delos. In Greek tales, she was known as the goddess who sent the raging boar to wreak havoc upon Calydon, she was responsible for changing Acteon into a stag and sending his own hunting dogs to slay him. Many of the animals and creatures of the forests were her responsibility, and many of the nymphs and dryads were in her care as well.
Edith Hamilton writes of her in Mythology;
"She was the Lady of Wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief to the Gods, an odd office for a woman. Like a good huntsman, she was careful to preserve the young; she was 'the protectress of dewy youth' everywhere."
Hunting Code: In the work The Golden Bough by James Frazer, he observes certain customs and codes of practice that took place in the event of a hunt;
"Hence on important occasions the behaviour of friends and relations at a distance is often regulated by a more or less elaborate code of rules, the neglect of which by one set of persons would, it is supposed, entail misfortune or even death on the absent ones. In particular, when a party of men are out hunting or fighting, their kinsfolk at home are often expected to do certain things or to abstain from doing certain others, for the sake of ensuring the safety and success of the distant hunters or warriors."
He continues;
"Many of the indigenous tribes of Sarawak are firmly persuaded that were the wives to commit adultery while their husbands are searching for camphor in the jungle, the camphor obtained by the men would evaporate. Husbands can discover, by certain knots in the tree, when their wives were unfaithful; and it is said that in former days many women were killed by jealous husbands on no better evidence than that of these knots. Further, the wives dare not tough a comb, while their husbands are away, collecting the camphor; for if they did so, the interstices between the fibres of the tree, instead of being filled with precious crystals, would by empty like the spaces between the teeth of a comb."
Frazer writes of the homecoming victory for warriors and head-hunters;
"In Windessi, Dutch New Guinea, when a party of head-hunters has been successful, and they are nearing home, they announce their approach and success by blowing on triton shells. Their canoes are also decked with branches. The faces of the men who have taken a head are blackened with charcoal. If several have taken part in killing the same victim, his head is divided among them. They always time their arrival so as to reach home in the early morning. They come rowing to the village with great noise, and the women stand ready to dance in the verandahs of the houses. The canoes row past the room sram or house where the young men live; and as they pass, the murderers throw as many pointed sticks or bamboo at the wall or roof as their enemies were killed. The day is spent very quietly. Now and then they blow on the conch; at other times they beat the walls of the houses with loud shouts to drive away the ghosts of the slain."
Frazer writes of etiquette when visiting a hunter;
"In some of the East Indian Islands, anyone who comes to the house of a hunter must walk straight in; he may not loiter at the door, for were he to do so, the game would in like manner stop in front of the hunter's snares and then turn back, instead of being caught in the trap."
And further;
"Again, among the Huzuls of the Carpathian Mountains, the wife of a hunter may not spin while her husband is eating, or the game will turn and wind like the spindle, and the hunter will be unable to hit it. Here again, the hunter is clearly derived from the law of similarity."
The Huntsman in the Woods: Alexander Porteous writes in his work The Forest in Folklore and Mythology, about the different figures of hunters and huntsmen;
Porteous writes of several examples of ghosts or spectres who as former huntsmen haunt certain forests. One example was of a figure who hunted in the hilled areas of Weser Uplands of Lower Saxony, Germany;
"There are several variations of this legend, one of which says that the huntsman at first lived a holy life in the Solling Forest near Ulsar, but was so much occupied in hunting, and was so fond of the sport, that on his deathbed he prayed to God that his share of Heaven might be allowed to hunt in the Solling till the Judgment Day. His wish was granted, and in the forest, he fulfils his doom, and often at night the ghastly hunt is heard passing over. In Westphalia, he is known as Hackelbrand, who when alive, used to go hunting even on Sundays, for which desecration he was doomed to hunt in the air, both by day and by night forever."
Porteous writes of the huntsman in a game of tug-a-war;
"A story of the Wild Huntsman relates how a peasant had a tug-of-war with him-the huntsman in the air and the peasant on the ground. A heavy chain was employed, and each time the huntsman pulled it up the peasant twisted it round the stem of an Oak, unloosening it when the former came down to see why he could not lift the peasant. Three times this happened, and the peasant went home well rewarded for having held out against the huntsman, as the latter thought."
Porteous writes of a huntsman and a hunchback, as written from Grim;
"Grim quotes a story out of Kuhn's Nordd. Sag., No. 69, which tells how a man went and stood under a tree in the forest through which the Wild Huntsman and his retinue rode. One of the latter, in passing, dealt the man a blow in the back with his axe, saying, 'I will plant my axe in this tree'; and from that time onward the man had a hump. He waited till a year had elapsed, then went and stood under the tree again. The same person stepped out of the procession and said, 'Now I'll take my axe out of the tree'; and the man was at once relieved of his hump."
Porteous writes of the figure known as the Wood-Wife, an adversary of the Huntsman;
"What were known as Wood-Wives frequented the old sacred forests or groves, and apparently it had been they who had formed the court or escort of the ancient gods when they sat enthroned on the trees. These Wood-Wives were principally found in Southern Germany, but varieties of them are mentioned in Northern Germany and in Scandinavia. They were the quarry of the Wild Huntsman, but were saved from him if they could reach a tree with a cross on it. In fact, the foresters, when felling trees, used to cut three crosses on a part of the tree. The little Wood-Wives would go and sit in the centre of these, and there, they were secure."
And further;
"The prey of the Wild Huntsman was, as already said, usually the little Wood-Wives, and it is related that a peasant on one occasion, hearing the commotion around, joined in the furious hunt, and was rewarded the next morning by finding a quarter of a wood-wife hanging at his stable-door."
There are certain Scandinavian beliefs associated with the huntsman and specific deities, Porteous writes of Odin;
"In Sweden, Odin is looked upon as the Wild Huntsman or spectral hunter. It is said that until very recently, when he was heard riding past in his boisterous career, attended by his ghostly host, the windows of all sick chambers were opened, so that the soul, if it thought fit to depart, might have an opportunity of joining Odin in the furious chase."
Porteous writes of the hunters who had to be granted permission to slay beasts prior to hunting in the forests of Finland;
"Among the numerous Gods who presided over the destinies of Finland was a special God of the forest named Tapio, to whom all the wild beasts of the forest belonged, and over which he and his beautiful goddess reigned. To these sylvan deities, the hunter had to appeal for permission ere he ventured to hunt or slay any of the forest animals, and oblations were offered to them to induce them to drive game across the hunter's path. They also protected domestic cattle, both in their stalls and if they should have happened to have strayed into the forest. The Laplanders worshipped a similar Forest God."
Other methods of appeasement were made to the huntsman;
"The Wild Huntsman is found also in Carinthia, where the peasant places a wooden bowl of meat on a tree in front of his house so as to propitiate the wind, that it may do him no harm."
Porteous writes of the hunter in Southeast Asia, in the forests of Malaysia;
"A Spectral Huntsman, very similar to the Wild Huntsman of Germany and other countries, ranges the Malay Forests. He travels with a pack of ghostly dogs, and whenever he is seen sickness or death is sure to follow. Certain night-flying birds, whose note is loud and peculiar, are believed to be his attendants. When their weird cry is heard the peasants run out making a clatter with a knife on a wooden platter, and cry, "Great grandfather, bring us their hearts." The huntsman believes they are his own followers asking a share of his bag; so he passes on, leaving them unharmed, and the tumult of the wild hunt gradually dies away."
Aesop's Fables: From the Signet version, edited by Jack Zipes;
The Hunter and the Fisherman
A hunter was returning from the mountains loaded with game when he met a fisherman coming home with his basket full of fish. The hunter admired the fish and desired to have them for supper, while the fisherman longed to have a meal of game. So they quickly agreed to exchange catches, and from then on they continued to do so every day until a neighbour said to them, "if you keep exchanging your catch so frequently, you'll soon lose the pleasure of your exchange, and you'll each want to keep only what you've caught."
The Hunter and the Woodcutter
A man who went out to hunt lions in a forest met a woodcutter, and he asked him whether he had seen any lion's tracks and whether he knew where the lion's lair was.
"Yes," said the man, "and if you'll come with me, I'll show you the lion himself."
Upon hearing this, the hunter turned ghastly pale, and his teeth began to chatter. "No, thankyou," he said. "It was the lion's tracks that I was hunting, not the lion himself."
Slavic Fables: From the collection of Slavonic Fairy Tales, comprised by John T. Naake;
Huntsman the Unlucky
Once upon a time, there lived a huntsman. He would go every day in search of game, but it often happened that he killed nothing, and so obliged to return home with his bag empty. On that account, he was nicknamed "Huntsman the Unlucky." At last, he was reduced by his ill fortune to such extremities that he had not a piece of bread, nor a copeck left. The wretched man wandered about the forest, cold and hungry; he had eaten nothing for three days, and was nearly dying of starvation. He lay down on the grass determined to put an end to his existence; happily better thoughts came into his mind; he crossed himself and threw away the gun. Suddenly he heard a rustling noise near him. It seemed to issue from some thick grass close at hand. The hunter got up and approached the spot. He observed that the grass, partly hid a gloomy abyss, from the bottom of which there rose a stone, and on it lay a small jar. As he looked and listened the hunter heard a small voice crying,- "Dear kind traveller, release me!"
The voice seemed to proceed from the little jar. The courageous hunter, walking carefully from one stone to another, approached the spot where the jar lay, took it up gently, and heard a voice crying from within like the chirping of a grasshopper,-"Release me, and I will be of service to you."
"Who are you, my little friend?" asked Huntsman the Unlucky.
"I have no name, and cannot be seen by human eyes," answered a soft voice. "If you want, call me 'Murza!' A wicked magician put me in this jar, sealed it with the seal of King Soloman, and then threw me into this fearful place, where I have lain for seventy years."
"Very good," said Huntsman the Unlucky; "I will give you your liberty, and then we shall see how you will keep your word." He broke the seal and opened the little jar-there was nothing in it!
"Halloa! where are you, my friend?" cried the hunter.
"By your side," a voice answered.
The hunter looked about him, but could see no one.
"Murza!"
"Ready! I await your orders. I am your servant for the next three days, and will do whatever you desire. You have only to say, 'Go there, I know not where; bring me something, I know not what."
"Very well," said the hunter. "You will doubtless know best what is wanted. Go there, I know not where; bring me something, I know not what."
As soon as the hunter had uttered these words, there appeared before him a table covered with dishes, each filled with the most delicious viands, as if they had come direct from a banquet of the czar. The hunter sat down at the table, and ate and drank till he was satisfied. He then rose, crossed himself, and, bowing on all sides, exclaimed,-
"Thank you! thankyou!"
Instantly, the table and everything else with it, disappeared, and the hunter continued his journey.
After walking some distance, he sat down by the roadside to rest. It so happened that while the hunter was resting himself, there passed through the forest, a gipsy thief, leading a horse which he wanted to sell.
"I wish I had the money to buy the horse with," thought the hunter; "what a pity my pockets are empty! However, I will ask my invisible friend Murza!"
"Ready!"
"Go there, I know not where; bring me something, I know not what!"
In less than a minute the hunter heard the money chinking in his pocket; gold poured into them, he knew not how nor whence.
"Thanks! you have kept your word," said the hunter.
He then began to bargain with the gipsy for the horse. Having agreed upon the price, he paid the man in gold, who, staring at the hunter with his mouth wide open, wondered where Huntsman the Unlucky had got so much money from. Parting from the hunter, the gipsy thief ran with all his speed to the farther end of the forest, and whistled. There was no answer. "They are asleep," thought the gipsy, and entered a cavern where some robbers, lying on the skins of animals, were resting themselves.
"Halloa, comrades! Are you asleep?" cried the gipsy. "Get up, quick! or you will lose a fine bird. He is alone in the forest, and his pockets are full of gold. Make haste!"
The robbers sprang up, mounted their horses, and galloped after the hunter.
The hunter heard the clatter, and seeing himself, suddenly surrounded by robbers, cried out,-
"Murza!"
"Ready!" answered a voice near him.
"Go there, I know now where; bring me something, I know not what."
There was a rustling noise heard in the forest, and then something behind the trees fell upon the robbers. They were knocked from their horses, and scattered on all sides; yet no hand was seen to touch them. The robbers, thrown upon the ground, could not raise themselves, and the hunter, thankful and rejoicing at his deliverance, rode on, and soon found his way out of the dark forest and came upon a town.
Near this town, there were pitched tents full of soldiers. Huntsman the Unlucky, was told that an enormous army of Tartars had come, under the command of their khan, who, angry at being refused the hand of the Princess Milovzora, the daughter of the czar, had declared war against him.
The hunter had seen the Princess Milovzora, when she was out hunting in the forest. She used to ride a beautiful horse, and carry a golden lance in her hand; a magnificent quiver of arrows hung from her shoulder. When her veil was lifted up she appeared like the spring sunlight, to give light to the eyes and warmth to the heart.
The hunter reflected for a little while, and then cried, "Murza!"
In an instant he found himself dressed in splendid attire; his jacket was embroidered with gold, he wore a beautiful mantle on his shoulders, and ostrich feathers hung gracefully down from the top of his helmet, fastened by a brooch of a ruby surrounded by pearls. The hunter went into the castle, presented himself before the czar, and offered to drive away the forces of the enemy on condition that the czar gave him the beautiful Princess Milovzora for his wife.
The czar was greatly surprised, but did not like to refuse such an offer at once; he first asked the hunter his name, his birth, and his possessions.
"I am called Huntsman the Unlucky, Master of Murza the Invisible."
The czar thought the young stranger was mad; the courtiers however, who had seen him before, assured the czar that the stranger exactly resembled Huntsman the Unlucky, whom they knew; but how he had got that splendid dress they could not tell.
Then the czar demanded:
"Do you hear what they say? If you are telling lies, you will lose your head. Let us see then, how you will overcome the enemy with the forces of your invisible Murza?"
"Be of good hope, czar," answered the hunter; "as soon as I say the word, everything will be completed."
"Good," said the czar. "If you have spoken the truth you shall have my daughter for your wife; if not, your head will be forfeit."
The hunter said to himself, "I shall either become a prince, or I am a lost man."
He then whispered, "Murza, go there, I know not where; do this, I know not what."
A few minutes passed, and there was nothing to be heard or seen. Huntsman the Unlucky, turned pale; the czar, enraged, ordered him to be seized and put in irons, when suddenly the firing of guns was heard in the distance. The czar and his courtiers ran out onto the steps leading into the castle, and saw bodies of men approaching from both right and left, their standards waving gracefully in the air; the soldiers were splendidly equipped. The czar could hardly believe his eyes, for he himself had no troops so fine as these.
"This is no delusion!" cried Huntsman the Unlucky. "These are the forces of my invisible friend."
"Let them drive away the enemy then, if they can," said the czar.
The hunter waved his handkerchief. The army wheeled into position; music burst forth in a martial strain, and then a great cloud of dust arose. When the dust had cleared away, the army was gone.
The czar invited Huntsman the Unlucky to dinner, and asked him numerous questions about Murza the Invisible. At the second course, the news came that the enemy was flying in every direction, completely routed. The terrified Tartars had left all their tents and baggage behind them. The czar thanked the hunter for his assistance and informed his daughter that he had found a husband for her. Princess Milovzora blushed upon receiving the intelligence, then turned pale, and began to shed tears. The hunter whispered something to Murza, and the princess's tears changed into precious stones as they fell.
The courtiers hastened to pick them up they were pearls and diamonds. The princess smiled at this, and overcome with pleasure gave her hand to Huntsman the Unlucky, unlucky no longer. Then began the feast.-But here the story must end.